23 minute film from Magazin on Vimeo. I first posted this film (in German with English subtitles) in 2012. Been a long time coming, no?!
(Apparently Blogger no longer allows embed videos from Vimeo)
Showing posts with label Kropotkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kropotkin. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Friday, March 9, 2012
Kropotkin's "The Coming Revolution" as Visualized by Magazin
In German with English subtitles:
Now I wish my German was better because the visuals -- compiled mostly from movie clips -- are compelling though not quite apropos of the text. Or maybe they are. It's hard to read and watch at the same time.
To some extent, I believe that what Kropotkin describes as the Coming Revolution is actually taking place through and in alignment with the Occupy Movement and all the parallel revolts under way. It's not at all like the Revolutions we're accustomed to from the literature (not that most Americans have any direct experience with actual Revolution of any kind...) Rather than trying to take over or replace existing governments, for example, the primary effort under way is to develop new models of society, law and economies. In that context, the battles with authority are minor distractions. The actual work of Revolution is going on well behind the battle lines, not at all in secret because it is practically everywhere, but it's rarely noticed for what it is. And that may be just as well.
Kropotkin was quite the visionary. But the society he envisions is extremely vulnerable to predatory interests; the voluntary association method only works on a small scale, and associations of associations tend to reach maximum levels very quickly so that the kind of "mesh" of associations he envisions is not very likely to occur spontaneously with the necessary variety and on the scale for an "advanced" civilization -- although the "mesh" of associations throughout the Occupy firmament actually resembles Kropotkin's ideal, and it has been largely spontaneously generated. Once there were some linkages they were developed further and further, and to this point, they are stronger than ever. But Occupy is in no way capable of serving all the needs and interests of a whole society... or is it?
An end to property and the state? How does one do that? Or is it even necessary? This is where the discoveries being made today may significantly modify Kropotkin's vision. Too soon to tell.
At any rate, last year Mark Ames over at the Exiled Online peered into the FBI's files on the Yippies and such like. It's quite a cautionary tale. One that it is well to remember. (Warning, there is a link in the story to a pdf file of the FBI documents; it's about 6,500 pages. Might want to skip it...!)
Kropotkin - The Coming Revolution - english from Magazin on Vimeo.
Now I wish my German was better because the visuals -- compiled mostly from movie clips -- are compelling though not quite apropos of the text. Or maybe they are. It's hard to read and watch at the same time.
To some extent, I believe that what Kropotkin describes as the Coming Revolution is actually taking place through and in alignment with the Occupy Movement and all the parallel revolts under way. It's not at all like the Revolutions we're accustomed to from the literature (not that most Americans have any direct experience with actual Revolution of any kind...) Rather than trying to take over or replace existing governments, for example, the primary effort under way is to develop new models of society, law and economies. In that context, the battles with authority are minor distractions. The actual work of Revolution is going on well behind the battle lines, not at all in secret because it is practically everywhere, but it's rarely noticed for what it is. And that may be just as well.
Kropotkin was quite the visionary. But the society he envisions is extremely vulnerable to predatory interests; the voluntary association method only works on a small scale, and associations of associations tend to reach maximum levels very quickly so that the kind of "mesh" of associations he envisions is not very likely to occur spontaneously with the necessary variety and on the scale for an "advanced" civilization -- although the "mesh" of associations throughout the Occupy firmament actually resembles Kropotkin's ideal, and it has been largely spontaneously generated. Once there were some linkages they were developed further and further, and to this point, they are stronger than ever. But Occupy is in no way capable of serving all the needs and interests of a whole society... or is it?
An end to property and the state? How does one do that? Or is it even necessary? This is where the discoveries being made today may significantly modify Kropotkin's vision. Too soon to tell.
At any rate, last year Mark Ames over at the Exiled Online peered into the FBI's files on the Yippies and such like. It's quite a cautionary tale. One that it is well to remember. (Warning, there is a link in the story to a pdf file of the FBI documents; it's about 6,500 pages. Might want to skip it...!)
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